


You were Young and You were Cold

by Jc27



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: 2nd POV, Blood, I mean, Linked Universe, Lots of other people show up, Twilight (Linked Universe) Needs a Hug, Twilight (Linked Universe)-centric, Violence, and child abuse, backstory really, but they aren’t given a lot of spotlight, please don’t read if that hurts yoy, so I didn’t tag them, warning for blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:00:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28022805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jc27/pseuds/Jc27
Summary: Basically: the Twi backstory no one asked for.
Relationships: Twilight (Linked Universe) & Everyone
Comments: 5
Kudos: 62





	You were Young and You were Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, read the tags. It gets violent, there’s blood, and child abuse.

You are five the first time you remember seeing the mark on your hand. It doesn’t scrub away.

You know this.

Your father tried his best to wash it away. Your skin was raw and hurt and the mark remained.

You don’t enjoy seeing your father.

He is often cruel. He locks you away in the dark room. He yells. He hurts you.

He does not hurt your mother.

You wonder if it is because she is cold. If it is because her warm smiles are never directed at you. If it is because her soft hands become claws when they touch you.

The price of her safety is your pain. 

When you are eight, your mother says she will be having another child.

Your father says he will finally be rid of you.

You are scared.

You love to think of being an older brother. You want to teach and care for your younger sibling.

You know that will never happen.

You know your father plans on killing you once the baby is born.

You aren’t allowed to leave the house, you aren’t allowed to see other people. You are...broken, your father says.

You believe him. You know he is right.

You are scared. You feel the terror in your bones. Making you shake, giving you goosebumps, taking your voice away.

You are nine and you are an older brother.

You do not sleep well.

Every night you fear he will come. You know it will happen eventually.

You are exhausted for the constant paranoia. You look over your shoulder, you flinch at every creak. The shadows spook you.

You jerk awake when his hands wrap around your throat.

You wheeze. You cannot breathe.

You know that is the point.

He will kill you. He will end you like he promised. And no one will know you ever existed.

You do not want to die. You know this as you know the mark on your hand.

You grab the knife you keep under your pillow. The one hidden after too many days of fear. You will not die!

When you replay the moment in your head, you are horrified by what happens next.

Blood spills over you. The hands go limp.

As does the body of your father.

Your heart races as his stops.

He is heavy, crushing your small body under his.

You struggle and push him off.

You did not want him to die...

Your mother does not race into the room. You think she does not care.

She never cared.

That is why you run.

You do not grab a pack to help you, you just have to escape that house. You run through the halls through the front door.

You look back only once before running into the woods.

You do not regret it.

You run for hours. The darkness makes it hard to see. You do not need to see. You know this forest well.

You have always felt more at home within the trees than inside your home.

You do not think that house will ever be home.

You continue running. You run until your lungs burn and your legs give out. You think you have been running for hours.

Your clothes are sticky with blood and sweat. Dirt starts to cover you as you remain collapses on the ground. You shudder.

You are cold. You are tired. You...you have always been these. You have never had the warmth of a parents’ kind touch. You have never had the relaxation of bonding with your family.

You breathe heavily. Your eyes burn with tears. You release them. There are no judging parents to yell at you for your weakness.

You sob. You sob for the first time you can remember. It is an ugly thing. You hiccup and cough. Your nose runs. Your face is wet, it slides past the blood and that only makes you cry more.

You hear the echo of wheezing. You hear the sound of tearing skin. Of blood. Of the body falling to the floor.

You vomit the food you did not eat enough of. You are thin and weak.

You are messy and weak and cannot think of moving.

You think you are there for days. Sobbing without a care of what sneaks up behind you.

That is why you do not notice the wolf until it is nudging you in the side.

Your tears pause, your breath hitches. You are not afraid. You have never seen a creature like it.

It’s fur is gold. It’s eyes a shining red. You reach out to touch it with your filthy hands. The wolf let’s you.

You brush your fingers across its head. It leans in closer.

It is warm.

You hug the creature. You hug the wolf because it is warm and you have only ever been cold.

The wolf allows you to.

It stays like that for a few minutes. Then it is pulling away.

You miss the warmth. You sniffle, your tears have dried. You feel their dried stickiness on your faces

The wolf steps away. You watch.

It pauses when it is some feet away. It looks to you as if saying _come on!_

You stand on your shaky legs. They are aching and tired.

You follow the wolf.

It leads you through the forest. You do not know where you are going, you have never been so far.

The sun shines weakly through the leaves. You briefly wonder how long it has been.

You think of your father, left alone dead on the floor. You think of your mother, finding his body. You can imagine her scream. You know it will wake your younger sibling. You know they will scream too.

You are glad you are far from there. You do not think you could handle hearing those screams.

You walk for hours. The wolf makes you take breaks. It brings you fruit, you are too tired to ask where it found it.

You chew the fruit slowly. You are not used to so much to eat. They never fed you enough.

The wolf watches as you eat. You watch it back.

You do not speak. The wolf cannot speak.

You sit in silence until the wolf has you continue.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

It is dark again and you are taking another break. You watch as it watches you. You think it is waiting for something.

You jump when it darts away.

 _Wait!_ You beg mentally. _Don’t leave me!_

You chase the wolf, only catching glimpses of its golden fur in the shadowy forest.

You stumble and fall and trip and continue to run.

You run until your legs collapse under you and the golden fur is gone.

_Gone._

You’re all alone.

You curl into a ball. You do not cry. You are too tired to cry. You curl into a ball and lie on the ground.

You think you may fall asleep, cold and shivering. You feel disconnected from your body. The shaking does not feel like you. You do not feel like it? You do not know.

As your eyes slide shut you think you hear footsteps. You are too tired to keep them open.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You wake up to an unfamiliar home. It is...warm? The bed you are on is soft, comforting. Your clothes are no longer sticky, you realize they are not your clothes. Someone changed your outfit. They also wiped the blood away from your body.

Who…?

A door opens. A man walks in. You freeze. You stare at him. He stares back.

He did not think you were awake, you realize.

Then, the strangest thing happens, he seems to soften. His body relaxed, his smile is kind, his eyes shine. You...you have never seen such a thing.

He walks closer to you.

You cannot help the flinch. He does not berate you for it. He simply crouches down with his hands held out. A gesture of goodwill, of no harm.

You watch him.

“Hello, I’m Rusl. I found you a few days ago in the woods,” the man tells you.

You do not reply.

The man takes a breath before continuing, “I found you in pretty rough shape. Can you tell me what happened?”

You do not answer.

“I just...I bet your family is worried about you. I would hate for you to lose them.”

You flinch. You never had a family, you think, you know you cannot lose something you never had.

The man tilts his head. He seems... sad. “Do you not have a family?”

You shake your head.

“I...I’m sorry for your loss.”

You do not say anything.

“We noticed you were hurt. You had bruises and cuts. We...we want you to stay here, at least until you’re healed.”

You tilt your head. They want you to stay?

“And...you’re young. If you have nowhere else to go, my family would love to have you. It’s your choice, however. This village is small, but it is kind. They will welcome you. We can keep you fed and warm.”

Warm...they can keep you warm. Is that why the wolf ran? Because it knew you would be led to this place?

“You don’t have to decide at this very moment!” The man quickly assures you, “This is a big decision.”

There is a lull in the conversation. If it could be called that. He’s the only one speaking.

“I, er, do you have a name?”

You pause. You breathe, your throat feels dry. “Link.”

The man does not hesitate, “Well then, Link, it’s nice to meet you.”

You do not say the same, but with the way he looks at you, you think he knows.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

He asks you, later, how old you are.

You know you want to stay. You want to stay with this man and his warmth.

“Ten,” you lie. Young boys are useless, your father reminded you daily, this man may not want you if you are young. You think you can get away with it. You think you can hide your smallness with how little food you had throughout your childhood. Two years isn’t that large a gap, hopefully.

“You’re small for your age,” he says.

You say nothing.

He believes you.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Uli is kind and attentive in ways your mother was not.

You like her.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Ilia, like so many others in this village, is kind. She is kind and smart and stubborn.

She calls you her best friend the second day she sees you.

You find yourself excited, you’ve never had friends before.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You quickly grow to love reading. You often spend your nights up late, curled around a book.

They make you giggle.

They make you warm. 

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You live with Uli and Rusl for about a year when they tell you they are expecting a son. You are “eleven” years old.

The warmth you have been basking in for months fades.

You are frozen.

“Link?” Rusl asks.

You do not answer. You have never been talkative, even in this warm community.

“Link, sweetie, are you alright?” Uli adds.

They’re having a child. You are...replaceable. They will get rid of you now.

“What did I do wrong?” You ask instead of answering.

They frown.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. This isn’t a punishment.” Rusl tries to explain.

“Then what is it?”

“We were always scared. We were scared we’d be bad parents, so we never tried. And then...we met you. You amazing child who changed everything,” Uli says.

Rusl continues for her, “We saw you. We saw you growing and changing and we...we felt ready. I know it’s selfish, but we didn’t do this to hurt you. In fact, we hoped you’d be an older brother for them.”

“You’re not…” _Mad? Going to kill me?_

“We love you, Link,” the two of them say together.

And that warmth, that overwhelming warmth, floods back into you. Making its way throughout your body until you realize you’re grinning.

They ask to hug you and you do not hesitate to jump into their arms.

You think you finally know what home is.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “thirteen” and the unofficial, although everyone knows it’s official, big brother to all the kids in Ordon. Ilia is there too, filling the same role as big sister.

Life is good.

You are warm.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “thirteen” and Rusl teaches you about farming. You learn quickly.

The goats are your favorite.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “thirteen” and meet Epona.

You and Ilia both agree Epona ranks highest in the friendship chart.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “fourteen” and you learn how dangerous wolves are.

You kill your first one shortly.

You are cold when doing so.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “fifteen” and Ilia tells you a secret.

She does not love anyone. Not in the way parents love each other.

You both know people expect you two to fall in love.

You are glad she feels the same.

Neither of you want that kind of love with each other.

You call yourselves siblings instead.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “sixteen” and Rusl insists you learn some sword techniques.

It takes a week for you to give in.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “seventeen” and grateful for those lessons.

Those lessons are what allows you to fight back when the monsters raid the spring and take Ilia and Colin from you.

The monsters hold you down while your arm is chopped off.

Ilia’s muffled scream hurt you more than the blow.

You are grateful Colin has passed out, you do not want him to see this.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

Your bones snap and bend and twist and shift and you scream.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “seventeen” and life is hell.

You think you may deserve it. All those years of warmth and happiness...you didn’t deserve them.

You’re sorry the kids had to be dragged into it.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “seventeen” and think you understands love. Not the brotherly kind you feel for the kids, or the sibling one you feel for Ilia, but a different one. The one that makes you want to dance with her. The one that makes you want to read with her. Joke and laugh with her. Be with her. Her.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

She leaves.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “eighteen” and wake up in a new world.

There is a child, he has no memory of who he was.

You help him, like how Ordon helped you.

You gain a brother, even if he does not know you are not always a wolf.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You’re the one leaving this time.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “nineteen” and join other heroes like you.

You all have secrets, some you know, others you keep.

Some keep your secrets.

You gain many more brothers.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

They are warm.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

You are “twenty” and return to Ordon for a short while. Your brothers are with you.

You are surprised to see a new face. A somewhat familiar one at that.

They ask to speak to you alone.

They are...nervous. Rusl and Uli give you cautious looks as you leave. You do not look at your brothers’ faces.

“Link,” the new strange person says, “I believe we knew each other once.”

You tilt your head in question.

They do not seem confused by your lack of words. “I…”

You wait.

“I believe you are my brother. The one that ran away when I was young.”

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

The words leave you cold.


End file.
